Rapid Diagnostic Test Announced

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A rapid diagnostic test for seven major livestock diseases has been announced by Colorado State University.

Also involved were the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Agriculture Department’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory and the National Animal Health Laboratory Network and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

The new diagnostic tool reduces the time of detection from days to hours and can simultaneously test for detection of foot-and-mouth disease and a number of similar diseases: bovine viral diarrhea, bovine herpes-1, bovine parapox virus complex, bluetongue, swine vesicular disease and vesicular exanthema of swine.

“This new diagnostic assay will significantly enhance the future security of U.S. agriculture by providing improved technology for animal disease diagnostics,” says Tammy Beckham, deputy director of science for the Department of Homeland Security at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center.